The downpours of March suggest that the most noteworthy aspect of the Northeast’s winter was the intense precipitation rather than unusually cold air.

Because of the substantial implications of the hurricane–global warming issue for society and the immediate policy relevance associated with decision making related to Hurricane Katrina, attacks and rebuttals related to this research are being made in the media and on the World Wide Web without the rigor or accountability expected of scientific discourse.

Human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere and global warming is happening as a result. The environment in which hurricanes form is changing. The evidence strongly suggests more intense storms and risk of greater flooding events.

NCAR invests in both the social sciences and capacity building through its Institute for the Study of Society and Environment and numerous initiatives across NCAR and UCAR.